Tweeps Forum 2017

The biggest interactive event that connects young people interested in social media with social media pioneers to engage in a meaningful discussion about social media topics, and share creative and positive ideas.

Sunday 25 Shaban 1438 – 21 May 2017

Riyadh

Tweeps Forum 2017

Tweeps is an interactive forum hosted by Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Philanthropic Foundation (MiSK) that connects young people interested in social media with social media pioneers, to engage in a meaningful discussion about social media topics, and to share creative and positive ideas.

Its current session will focus on social media and counterterrorism. It will discuss and evaluate the best strategies to utilize social media in educating and empowering young people to counter extremism, terrorism and radicalization online. Various invited leaders, decision-makers, and thinkers from around the world will attend the forum.

Launched in 2013, the first Tweeps Forum enabled young Saudi men and women to discuss their experiences in various fields. The second event explored the issue of sports fanaticism, while the third looked at how Twitter could be utilized to create a positive impact on society. The fourth session, held in 2016, discussed the impact and responsibility of social media websites. At this session, numerous ministers and officials of the Gulf Cooperation Council shared their experiences and vision and recommended initiatives on utilizing social media in a beneficial way.

Countering Extremism and Terrorism

Tweeps Forum 2017 is deeply honoured that at its fifth session, it will be hosting President Donald Trump, Saudi Foreign Minister H.E. Adel Al-Jubeir, UAE Foreign Minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, George Salama, Head of Public Policy and Government Relations for Twitter in the MENA region and Simon Milner, Facebook’s Policy director for the UK, Middle East and Africa. Other leaders and influencers are speaking.The central theme being discussed is how to ensure that social media platforms strengthen counter-terrorism and counter-radicalization.

The forum will explore

The mechanisms used by terrorists to attract young people and to spread extremist and destructive ideas. How to counter the misuse of social media and the dangerous consequences of this. Ways of reducing the promotion of hate speech, terrorism, and extremist opinions. The role of promoting peace and rapprochement between cultures and religions as a vital measure against terrorism. Furthermore, the forum will discuss the necessity of communication between individuals through Twitter and other social media websites. The role of sports in promoting young people’s awareness of these issues and how participation in sports activities can strengthen attitudes of tolerance. The need to highlight Islamic values on Twitter and the pioneering role of women in this field will also be covered.

Countering terrorism and extremism is one of the most pressing issues of our age. Succeeding in this fight is one of the most important factors enabling human development and prosperity, because the societies protected against these threats are far more likely to enjoy security, harmony and growth.

Goals

To encourage young people, wherever possible, to cooperate with governments and other responsible organizations as they tackle those who incite terrorism and extremism online. To increase young people’s awareness of their own responsibility while online and the positive impact they can have as they use social media platforms; To promote impactful discussions on Twitter and the rejection of extremism. To encourage young men and women to participate and achieve a positive influence. To promote the concept of effective communication between governments and the public through Twitter and other social media platforms.

HON. Donald J. Trump

President of the United States

Donald J. Trump is the 45th President of the United States. He believes the United States has incredible potential and will go on to exceed anything that it has achieved in the past. His campaign slogan was Make America Great Again, and that is exactly what he intends to do.
Donald J. Trump is the very definition of the American success story. Throughout his life he has continually set the standards of business and entrepreneurial excellence, especially with his interests in real estate, sports, and entertainment. Likewise, his entry into politics and public service resulted in the Presidential victory in, miraculously, his first ever run for office.
After graduating from the Wharton School of Finance, Mr. Trump followed in his father’s footsteps as a real estate developer, and he entered the world of real estate development in New York. The Trump signature soon became synonymous with the most prestigious of addresses in Manhattan and subsequently throughout the world. An accomplished author, Mr. Trump has authored over fourteen bestsellers and his first book, The Art of the Deal, in addition to being the #1 book of the year, is considered a business classic.
Mr. Trump announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015, and after seventeen Republican contenders suspended their campaigns, he accepted the Republican nomination for President of the United States in July of 2016. Mr. Trump won the election on November 8 of 2016 in the largest electoral college landslide for a Republican in 28 years. He won over 2,600 counties nationwide, the most since President Reagan in 1984. Additionally, he won over 62 million votes in the popular vote, the highest all-time for a Republican nominee. He also won 306 electoral votes, the most for a Republican since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Millions of Americans rallied behind his message of rebuilding our country and disrupting the status quo—this was a truly national victory and a historic movement.
Donald J. Trump campaigned in places he knew Republicans have had difficulty winning—Flint, Michigan, charter schools in inner-city Cleveland, and Hispanic churches in Florida—because he wanted to bring his message of economic empowerment to all Americans. Millions of new Republicans trusted Mr. Trump with their vote because of his focus on delivering prosperity through better trade deals, and as a result there were healthy margins of victory in newly red areas. It is clear that President Trump’s win is one that brought Americans of all backgrounds together, and he is ready to deliver results for the nation on day one and every day of his tenure.
President Trump has been married to his wife, Melania, for twelve years and they are parents to their son, Barron. Additionally, Mr. Trump has four adult children, Don Jr., Ivanka, Eric and Tiffany, and eight grandchildren.

H.E. Ismail Omar Guelleh

President, Djibouti

H.E. Ismail Omar Guelleh has been President of Djibouti since 1999 and has been elected to office three times. He was born in Ethiopia and studied in traditional Islamic schools in both Ethiopia and Djibouti. He later joined the police, becoming a junior non-commissioned officer, after which he led the Ligue Populaire Africaine pour l’Indépendance (the African people independence freedom movement). He was a member of the team that negotiated independence from France in 1977. After independence, he was appointed as the president of the Presidential Council. He held that position for 22 years. In 1979, the African people independence movement and other political groups united to form the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy. In 1983, he was elected a member of its central committee, and cultural attaché in France. In 1996, he was elected for the third time as the vice president to the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy.

H.E. Najib Razak

Prime Minister, Malaysia

H.E. Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak is the sixth and current Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was sworn into the position on 3 April 2009 to succeed Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Najib is the eldest son of Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia’s second Prime Minister, and the nephew of Hussein Onn, Malaysia’s third Prime Minister. He was elected to the Parliament of Malaysia in 1976, at the age of 23, replacing his deceased father. He became Deputy Prime Minister on 7 January 2004, serving under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, before replacing Badawi a year after Barisan Nasional suffered heavy losses in the 2008 election

Shiekh Abdullah Ibn bayyah

Founder of the Muslim Council of Elders

Born in Mauritania, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mahfudh ibn Bayyah is the founder and president of the Muslim Council of Elders and the former Vice-President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars. He was chosen by Georgetown University as one of the 50 most influential Muslims in 2009. Ibn Bayyah was awarded the 7th World Youth Award for Islamic Action in Bahrain and named the “Professor of the Generation.” He was also awarded the King Abdul Aziz Medal with the Rank of Distinction.

H.E. Adel Al-Jubeir

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Saudi Arabia

His Excellency Mr. Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir was appointed Foreign Minister by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz on April 29, 2015. In 1987, Mr. Al-Jubeir was appointed to the Saudi Diplomatic Service and posted to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, where he served as Special Assistant to the Ambassador. In 1990-91, he was part of the Saudi team that established the Joint Information Bureau at Dhahran during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He was a member of the GCC delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference in October 1991, and a member of the Saudi delegation to the Multilateral Arms Control Talks in Washington in 1992. In December 1992, he was dispatched with the Saudi Armed Forces to Somalia as part of Operation Restore Hope. Mr. Al-Jubeir was appointed Director of the Saudi Information and Congressional Affairs Office in Washington in 2000 He was named Foreign Affairs Advisor in the Crown Prince’s Court in the fall of 2000. In August 2005, the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz appointed Mr. Al-Jubeir to the position of Advisor at the Royal Court until his appointment as ambassador to the United States on January 29, 2007, a position he held until his appointment as foreign minister. He has lectured at universities and academic institutions in the U.S. and has appeared frequently in the media. In 2006, he received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the University of North Texas.

H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, United Arab Emirates

His Highness Shiekh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 2006. The ministry’s role focuses on maintaining clear political positions that support the UAE’s relationships with its regional and international partners while promoting the UAE as a regional leader in different fields. He also focuses on establishing specialized diplomatic capabilities and encouraging political talent to address international concerns and provide distinct consular and other services. He represents the UAE at Arab and International conferences and meetings. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed holds a degree in Political Science from UAE University.

Mr. Gary Samore

Executive Director for Research, Belfer Center, Harvard University

Gary Samore is Executive Director for Research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In December 2015, Dr. Samore was appointed as a member of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board and served until January 2017. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and member of the advisory board for United Against Nuclear Iran. He served for four years as President Obama’s White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, including as U.S. Sherpa for the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, DC and the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul, Korea. From 2006 to 2009, Dr. Samore was Vice President for Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York, where he held the Maurice R. Greenberg chair and directed the David Rockefeller Studies Program. Before joining CFR, Dr. Samore was vice president for global security and sustainability at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in Chicago, and from 2001 to 2005, he was Director of Studies and Senior Fellow for Nonproliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London. At IISS, he produced three “strategic dossiers” on Iran (2005), North Korea (2004), and Iraq (2002), considered authoritative and exemplary assessments of nuclear, biological, chemical, and missile programs in those countries. Dr. Samore was Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Nonproliferation and Export controls during the Clinton Administration. Before the National Security Council, Dr. Samore worked on nonproliferation issues at the State Department. In 1995, he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service for his role in negotiating the 1994 North Korea nuclear agreement. Prior to the State Department, he worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Rand Corporation. Dr. Samore was a National Science Foundation Fellow at Harvard University, where he received his MA and PhD in government in 1984. While at Harvard, he was a pre-doctoral fellow at what was then the Harvard Center for Science and International Affairs, later to become the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Mr. Randall Law

Professor of History, Birmingham-Southern College

Randall Law is Professor of History at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, Alabama, and the author of Terrorism: A History, a well-reviewed survey of the field now available in a revised second edition (Polity Press, 2016). Law is also the editor of The Routledge History of Terrorism, a 32-chapter reference volume published in 2015. His current projects include a monograph on the history of terrorism in the United States and an article on terrorism and political violence in the city of Odessa in the Russian Empire in the early twentieth century. In 2009, he spent four months in Odessa as a Fulbright Research Scholar. Law is frequently interviewed by national and international reporters on matters related to terrorism and Russian politics and history. Along with courses on the history of terrorism, Law teaches classes on modern Russian and European history at Birmingham-Southern, where he has won several teaching and research awards since he joined the faculty in 2003. In spring 2014, he designed a Massive Open Online Course on the history of terrorism, which was offered several times on the Coursesites platform. He is also an adjunct fellow of the American Security Project, a non-profit, bipartisan public policy and research organization dedicated to fostering knowledge and understanding of a range of national security issues. Law earned his B.A. in Russian from Amherst College; an M.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Yale University; and a Ph.D. in Russian and European history from Georgetown University.
Law grew up in Kansas City.

Mr. Richard Barrett

Director, The Global Strategy Network

Mr. Barrett is Director of The Global Strategy Network and a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, New America in Washington and the Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law and Financial Integrity at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio. He sits on the advisory boards of several institutions, including the International Centre for Counter Terrorism – The Hague; the Global Center on Cooperative Security in Washington; the Soufan Center in New York, and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in London. He is a member of the Independent Review Panel of the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund. From 2004 to 2012, he was Coordinator of the Al-Qaida and Taliban Monitoring Team at the United Nations in New York, appointed by the UN Secretary-General. In 2005, he helped establish the UN Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force, where he led on radicalisation; terrorist use of the Internet, and the Financing of Terrorism; he remains an adviser to its Director. He worked previously for the British Government both at home and overseas with postings in Canada, Jordan, Turkey, and at the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Dr. Jim Yong Kim

President, World Bank Group

Dr. Jim Yong Kim is the 12th President of the World Bank Group. He assumed his position in July 2012 and was reappointed to a second five-year term as President in September 2016.
Dr. Kim’s career has revolved around health, education, and delivering services to the poor. Before joining the World Bank Group, Dr. Kim, a physician and anthropologist, served as the President of Dartmouth College and held professorships at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Kim served as the director of the World Health Organization’s HIV/AIDS department and led the “3 by 5” initiative, the first ever global goal for AIDS treatment. In 1987, Dr. Kim co-founded Partners In Health, a non-profit medical organization that now works in poor communities on four continents. Dr. Kim has received a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, was recognized as one of America’s “25 Best Leaders” by U.S. News & World Report, and was named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”.

H.R.H. Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud

Over the past decade, Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud has established a profile for advocacy of business growth, community health and women’s development issues. Her efforts as a global ambassador for positive social change are recognized internationally and she has become one of the most visionary voices for a more united world. In August 2016, The Saudi Council of Ministers appointed Princess Reema as the Vice President of Women’s Affairs at the General Sports Authority, a governmental body solely focused on developing the Saudi sports and physical fitness space in Saudi Arabia.
Her Highness was involved in a host of initiatives that continue to amplify and expand worthy causes both in the Middle East and around the globe. She is the founder and CEO of Alf Khair, a social enterprise whose aim is to elevate the professional capital of Saudi women through a structured curriculum focusing on professional guidance and career management.
Princess Reema has received much international recognition, including being selected by the World Economic Forum at Davos as a Young Global Leader (YGL 2015), and being named as a Foreign Policy Magazine Global Thinker Mogul in 2014. She was also one of Business of Fashion’s Top 500 people working in fashion industry (2013 and 2014), and was picked to be Fast Company’s Most Creative Person of 2014. A graduate of George Washington University, Princess Reema is currently focusing on the responsibilities associated with her post at the General Sports Authority to further the goals of the national sports and physical fitness strategies in Saudi Arabia.

Khalid Al Khudeir

Founder and Board Member, Glowork

Mr. Alkhudair is the Founder and Board Member of Glowork, a Saudi based organization that aims to strengthen the role of women in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf by helping develop new professional opportunities for them across the region.
He is also the Chief Operating Officer – Markets at KPMG in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, with an extensive background in marketing and communications.
Under his leadership, KPMG has received 25 awards including the ‘Best Saudi Company to Work for’ and the ‘King Khalid Award for Responsible Competitiveness’. Previously, as part of the Executive Management team at Deutsche Gulf Finance, Mr. Alkhdair launched their brand, corporate identity, and presence in the Saudi market as a leader in the mortgage industry, and led them to 3 financial key international awards.
He was recently the curator of the ‘Riyadh Global Shapers’ at the World Economic Forum. Mr. Alkhudair is a member of many regional advisory boards including the CMO Council Advisory Board, the Country Officer for Women Campaign International (ALWANE), the Steering Committee Member for women unemployment at the Ministry of Labor, the Steering committee member on talent mobility for the World Economic Forum and an Advisory Member at Saudi Broadcasting.
A writer and contributor to national and regional publications such as the Gulf Marketing Review, the Saudi Gazette, and the Arab News, Mr Al Khudeir has also published the book “Communicating effectively in the work place”. He was awarded the Best Head of Marketing in the Middle East for 2010, Saint Mary’s University Young Alumni of the year, WAMDA Entrepreneur of the week in 2012, and has been ranked as the third most influential businessman under 30 by the Gulf Business Magazine.

Sheikh Saleh Almaghamsi

Imam and Orator, Quba Mosque, Madina, Saudi Arabia

Sheikh Almaghamsi is an Islamic scholar and author. He recieved his bachelor’s degree from King Abdul Aziz University in Medina in the Department of Arabic Language and Islamic Studies. He is a faculty member at the University of Taiba. He is also an Imam and Orator at the Quba Mosque. Moreover, he is a member of the Islamic Enlightenment Authority in Hajj and the International Commission on Scientific Signs in Quran & Sunnah. Previously, he was the director of the Center for Research and Studies in Medina. Additionally, Almugamsi has produced 14 audio books, the most important of which is “With the Qur’an”. He has participated in many scientific events in various Gulf and Arab countries. He has taught on many satellite channels, the most prominent of which is a series of Quranic Reflections. He was a keynote speaker at Tweeps Forum 2016.

Imam Dr. Ahmed Elteb

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Al Sarif and President, Muslim Council of Elders, Egypt

Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ahmed el-Tayeb is the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, having been appointed in 2010 by Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak following the death of Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy. He is also a former President of al-Azhar University. He is considered one of the most moderate Sunni clerics in Egypt. Between 2002 and 2003, Dr. el-Tayeb served as Grand Mufti of Egypt. He holds a Ph.D in Islamic philosophy from Sorbonne University in Paris. He received the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, Cultural Personality of the Year 2013

Ms. Hoda Al-Helaissi

Member, Shura Council

Ms Al-Helaissi as served as a Member of the Shura Council since 2013 and is one of the first 30 women ever to serve on the council for a term of 4 years. She began her second term in December 2016. Since joining the Council she has been a member of the Foreign Affairs committee and in 2014 become its vice-chairperson. Prior to this she was a lecturer in French and English at the College of Languages and Translation at King Saud University and served as vice-chairperson from 1999 to 2012. In addition, she has been working with the Bureau of Experts’ Translation Division at the Council of Ministers since 1999 and was Member of the Scientific Council from 2012 to 2014. The French government awarded her the Palme Académique in 2009, and “Personality of the Year” in 2014. Other distinctions include the Merit of Distinction Award for Excellence for Best Department Chairperson (2011), “les Insignes d’officier dans l’ordre national du mérite” (2014) and the Rawabi Prize, bestowed upon her in 2017 by the Saudi-British Association. Ms. Hoda Al-Helaissi gained an MA from Colorado State University.

Mr. Simon Milner

Policy Director for UK, Middle East and Africa, Facebook

Mr Milner joined Facebook in January 2012 and has represented the company internationally on issues such as child safety online, hate speech, enabling universal internet access, countering violent extremism and governments’ use of social media. He is also a board member of the Good Things Foundation. Previously, he held senior roles with BT, most recently as Director for Group Industry Policy, where he was responsible for policy development, articulation and advocacy on the communications industry. Before BT, he worked for the BBC, holding the position of Secretary, responsible for governance and accountability.

Ms. Edit Schlaffer

Founder, Women Without Borders, Austria

Dr. Edit Schlaffer is a social scientist and founder of Women without Borders, a research-based NGO headquartered in Vienna, Austria. She started Women without Borders in 2002 to encourage women to become active participants in their communities and to create a new bottom-up security paradigm. At Women without Borders, she has developed the MotherSchools: Parenting for Peace! Model, which empowers and equips mothers to recognize and respond to early warning signs of radicalization in their adolescent children. MotherSchools have been piloted in Tajikistan, Pakistan, India/Kashmir, Nigeria, Indonesia and Zanzibar. The model is now being used in Europe, with MotherSchools roll-outs in Austria, Belgium, England and Macedonia. New programs will begin in Germany and Jordan this year. In recognition of this innovative work, Dr. Schlaffer was selected by Foreign Policy as one of the 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2016, and awarded the Republic of Austria’s 2016 Golden State Award for Life Achievement in Adult Education. In 2015, she received the Aenne Burda Award for Creative Leadership, and the Soroptimist International of Europe Peace Prize.

Mr. Lorenzo Vidino

Director, Program on Extremism, George Washington University

Dr. Lorenzo Vidino is the Director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. An expert on Islamism in Europe and North America, his research over the past 15 years has focused on the mobilization dynamics of jihadist networks in the West; governmental counter-radicalization policies; and the activities of Muslim Brotherhood-inspired organizations in the West. A native of Italy who holds American citizenship, Dr. Vidino earned a law degree from the University of Milan Law School and a doctorate in international relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He has held positions at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School of Government, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the RAND Corporation, and the Center for Security Studies (ETH Zurich). He authored several books and numerous articles, the most prominent of which is The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West, published in 2010 by Columbia University Press. An Arabic edition was released in 2011 by the Al Mesbar Studies and Research Center. Dr. Vidino has testified before the U.S. Congress and other parliaments; advised law enforcement officials around the world; and taught at universities in the U.S. and Europe. He is a regular commentator for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, PBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, BBC, Al Jazeera, The London Times, The Telegraph, Reuters, and more. In 2016, he was appointed by the Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi as coordinator of the National Commission on Jihadist Radicalization.

Mr. George Salama

Head of Public Policy & Government Relations, Middle East & North Africa, Twitter

Mr Salama leads Twitter’s strategic engagement with key governments, political figures, policymakers, regulatory authorities, law enforcement agencies, lawmakers, civil society and the media. George is aiming to advance policy beneficial to the platform and its users. Prior to joining Twitter, George was Senior Manager for Public Policy at SAMENA Telecom Council, a Dubai-based ICT Industry Association. Prior to moving to the UAE, George served for over seven years with the Egyptian Government’s National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA), where he was in charge of International Technical Coordination and Internet Public Policy. George holds a MSc in Business Information Technology from Middlesex University in the UK. He also graduated from the American University in Cairo with a BSc in Computer Science and a minor in Electronics.

Mr. Mohammed K. Alyahya

Non-resident Fellow, Atlantic Council, Saudi Arabia

Mr. Alyahya is a Saudi Arabian political analyst and commentator. He is a non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. He is also a research fellow at the Gulf Research Center and serves on the advisory board for the Future Trends in the GCC Program at Chatham House. He was an associate fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies from 2014 to 2015. His writing has been published in the Financial Times, The Guardian, Al-Monitor, the Royal United Services Institute, The Telegraph, Al Arabiya, and the Huffington Post. He has a BA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Majed Abdullah

Former football player and striker for Saudi national team

He is a former striker for Al Nassr FC and Saudi national team, and one of the top international scorers in the world (115 goals). He won Asian Footballer of the Year three times. He won the AFC Asian Cup twice. He has been the league’s top scorer 6 times. His name is in the FIFA 100 as the first Arab and Asian player to score 147 international matches, making him a world champion in 1995.

Mr. Sami Al-Jaber

Member of the FIFA Status Committee (PSC) Alshabab Club Manger, Saudi Arabia

Al-Jaber achieved the title of the Saudi league and the top scorer in his first participation at the age of 18 years old. He received many impressive championships and figures with Al-Hilal and the Saudi national team. FIFA named him as a legend of Saudi football after joining elite group of players. He also qualified for Saudi Arabia in all four editions of the World Cup. Saudi Arabia scored 3 goals in the World Cup World Cup. He was the head coach of Al-Hilal in his first career as a professional coach and currently leads the coaching staff of Al-Shabaab team and a member of FIFA Player Status Committee.

Mr. Hazem Emam

Board member at the Egyptian Football Association, Egypt

A former Egyptian footballer, he spent most of his career as an attacking midfielder for Zamalek SC. Hazem is one of the most talented players in the history of Egyptian football. Throughout his career he was usually nicknamed “The Emperor”.

Mr. Luis Figo

Former Football Player, Portugal

Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo is a former Portuguese footballer who played as a midfielder for Sporting Clube de Portugal, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Internazionale during a career spanning over 20 years. He retired from football in 2009. He won 127 caps for the Portuguese national football team. Figo was the 2000 European Footballer of the Year, the 2001 FIFA World Player of the Year, and was named amongst the FIFA 100. Figo is one of the few footballers to have played for rival Spanish clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. He had a successful career highlighted by several trophy wins, including one Portuguese Cup, four La Liga titles, two Spanish Cups, three Spanish Super Cups, one UEFA Champions League title, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, one UEFA-CONMEBOL Intercontinental Cup, four Serie A titles, one TIM Italian Cup and three Italian Super Cups.

Mr. Peter Bergen

Vice-President, New America, United States

Peter Bergen is a journalist, documentary producer, vice president at New America, CNN national security analyst, professor of practice at Arizona State University, and the author or editor of seven books, three of which were New York Times bestsellers and four of which were named among the best non-fiction books of the year by The Washington Post. The books have been translated into twenty languages. Documentaries based on his books have been nominated for two Emmys and also won the Emmy for best documentary. Bergen also serves as New America’s Director of the International Security, Future of War and Fellows Programs. He is a contributing editor at Foreign Policy and writes a weekly column for CNN.com. He is a member of the Aspen Homeland Security Group and a fellow at Fordham University’s Center on National Security. Bergen is on the editorial board of Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, a leading scholarly journal in the field. He has held teaching positions at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. For many years he was a fellow at New York University’s Center on Law and Security. He has testified on Capitol Hill seventeen times about national security issues. In 2011 he published The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda. In 2012, he published Manhunt: The Ten Year Search for Bin Laden, from 9/11 to Abbottabad that won the Overseas Press Club award for the best book on international affairs. HBO based the film “Manhunt” on the book, which won the 2013 Emmy for best documentary. In 2013, he published Talibanistan: Negotiating the Borders Between Terror, Politics and Religion, a collection of essays about the Taliban that Bergen co-edited. In 2014 he published Drone Wars, a collection of essays about drone warfare that Bergen co-edited. In 2016, he published United States of Jihad: Investigating America’s Homegrown Terrorists and HBO adapted the book for the documentary film “Homegrown: The Counter-Terror Dilemma.” Bergen has hosted, produced, or executive produced multiple documentaries for HBO, CNN, National Geographic, and Discovery. Bergen co-produced CNN Films’ Legion of Brothers, which premiered at Sundance in January 2017 and will be released theatrically in May 2017. Bergen produced the first television interview with Osama bin Laden in 1997. The interview, which aired on CNN, marked the first time that bin Laden declared war against the United States to a Western audience. Bergen has written for a wide range of newspapers and magazines around the world including the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Time, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, The Daily Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, Prospect, La Repubblica, Die Welt and Der Spiegel. He has a degree in Modern History from New College, Oxford.

Mr. Mustafa Agha

Head of Sport, MBC

Mr. Agha is an award-winning sports journalist for MBC. He was selected as one of the 500 most powerful Arabs by Arabian business for 2 years in a row. In 2017, he was selected as one of top 100 most influential Arabs by Gulf News Magazine. He is also a two-time recipient of the H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Award for Creativity and Gulf TV Festival gold medal, amongst many other awards. Mr. Agha is a former academic and author of four books, published in English and Arabic.

Mr. Faisal Abbas

Journalist and author, Editor-in-Chief, Arab News, Saudi Arabia

Faisal J. Abbas is the Editor-in-Chief of the leading Middle East English language daily, Arab News. Mr. Abbas joined the publication in September 2016 with a mandate to make the paper international and turn it digital. Arab News is now being referenced by international media and is considered one of the most credible sources, with a new line up of columnists from all over the world, including diplomats, academics and influencers on various fronts. Prior to this, he was Editor-in-Chief of the Dubai-based English language service of Al Arabiya News Channel since July 2012. Abbas has been a journalist for over 15 years, starting as a student reporter for Future Television (Lebanon) then Al Hayat pan-Arab daily. Upon moving to London in 2005, he became Asharq Al Awsat’s media editor and reported on several current affairs topics. He made his debut in English writing for The Huffington Post in 2008. Mr Abbas has received numerous media awards, including the London-based Next Century Foundation’s Cutting Edge Award (2009).
Abbas gives regular talks about Arab media, politics and society in a number of renowned academic institutions including Cambridge University, the School of Oriental and African Studies and the London School of Economics. He is also a member of the British Society of Authors, National Union of Journalists and the John Adams Society. He was granted associate membership at the Cambridge Union Society following a memorable 2012 debate on the Arab Spring he took part in. In May 2017, Mr. Abbas released his first book titled “Arabi Englisi” at the Arab Media Forum in Dubai.

Ms. Francine Laqua

Anchor and Editor-at-large, Bloomberg Television

Francine Lacqua is a journalist, television anchor and editor-at-large for Bloomberg Television. In 2012, she was part of the Bloomberg team that won the OPEC award for ‘Public Interest Reporting. In 2013, she was the winner of Television Personality of the Year awarded by the Association of International Broadcasters.

Mr. Bill Neely

Journalist and Chief Global Correspondent, NBC News

Bill Neely joined NBC News in January 2014 as Chief Global Correspondent based in London. Since that time, he has covered all the major international stories including the conflicts in Syria and in Ukraine, the war against ISIS, the missing flight MH370, the attack on Charlie Hebdo, the Germanwings crash, the World Cup in Brazil, and the current migrant/refugee crisis in Europe. Last year, he interviewed President Assad for NBC exclusive. Prior to moving to NBC News, Mr. Neely served as the International Editor for 11 years at ITV News, where he covered nearly every major story – from Europe to the Middle East to Asia. His reports from across the globe have earned many prestigious awards, including numerous Royal Television Society awards, an Emmy for coverage of the 2008 earthquake in China, and an unprecedented three consecutive BAFTA awards, the British equivalent of the Oscars, for his work in China, Haiti and the UK. Mr. Neely also spent six years as ITV News Washington Correspondent, spanning the presidencies of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton’s first term. He covered key stories in the U.S. such as the Oklahoma City bombings, the Atlanta Olympics, and the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. He later closely followed the aftermath of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and, most recently, superstorm Sandy. He has covered more than a dozen wars and conflicts from Northern Ireland to Syria, and has been embedded regularly with U.S. and British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. He began his 33-year career at BBC Radio in Northern Ireland in 1981, working for two years, before moving to BBC TV. In 1989, he left the BBC for the newly-formed Sky News to be a presenter/reporter. Six months later, he joined ITN.

Mr. Bret Baier

Chief Political Anchor, FOX News Channel

Mr. Bret Baier is FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Chief Political Anchor and Anchor of “Special Report with Bret Baier”, one of the top four shows in cable news. Mr. Baier joined the network in 1998. During the 2012 political season, he served as co-anchor of FNC’s America’s Election HQ, and anchored Presidential and Vice Presidential debates, as well as the Republican and Democratic conventions. In 2016, he co-anchored three Republican Party debates for Fox News Channel in and interviewed all of the presidential candidates. He continues to provide extensive political coverage for FOX News Channel. During his tenure at the network, Baier has interviewed President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, former President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney. He has also anchored more than thirty political specials, reported from 74 countries, including from Iraq 12 times and Afghanistan 13 times. Prior to his anchor role, Baier was named chief White House correspondent in 2006 and covered the second term of the Bush Administration. Before that, he served as national security correspondent covering military and national security affairs, as well as defense, military policy and the intelligence community from the Pentagon. As FNC’s southeastern correspondent from 1998 to 2001, he covered a range of stories, including the 2001 Timothy McVeigh execution and the 1999 Elian Gonzalez story. He has also provided a series of reports from Cuba and covered more than a dozen hurricanes. Prior to joining FNC, Baier worked for WRAL-TV (CBS 5) in Raleigh, NC, WREX-TV (NBC 13) in Rockford, IL and WJWJ-TV (PBS 2) in Beaufort, SC. A graduate of DePauw University, he has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and English. He is also the author of The New York Times best seller, “Special Heart: A Journey of Faith, Hope, Courage and Love” and “Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower’s Final Mission.”

Ms. Rima Maktabi

Senior Anchor and Senior Roving Correspondent, Al Arabiya, Lebanon

Ms. Maktabi is a communication professional with over 15 years’ experience in television and journalism, which started in her home country of Lebanon. For the past several years, she has reported extensively from Syria on political, military and humanitarian issues. She also reported from the frontline in Mosul, Iraq, focusing on the battle with ISIS. She has also reported on other major events, including the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon and the Lebanese army’s war with the Fateh el Islam militia. Ms. Maktabi has interviewed top world leaders from a wide range of fields, including John Kerry, William Hague, Mahmoud Abbas, Angela Merkel, Amr Moussa, Fouad Sanioura, Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir, David Petraeus, Ahmet Davatuglo, Nasser Judeh, Mohammed Javad Zarif, Amin Maalouf, Franco Zeffirelli and Placido Domingo. Ms. Maktabi was nominated by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader in 2010. She has won awards for her journalism, including the Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum award. In 1996, while a student at the Lebanese American University, she started working with Lebanese Future TV, establishing her career in journalism. Later on, she worked for CNN as an anchor/reporter covering major news stories across the Middle East including the Arab Spring and hosted CNN’s renowned show Inside the Middle East. Between 2005 and 2010, she worked with Al Arabiya news channel as a reporter and senior anchor hosting the daily 8:00 O’clock news show. In 2012, she re-joined Al Arabiya News Channel.